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Tuesday, January 12, 2010

FACEBOOK AGAINST INJUSTICE

America is not always at the forefront of events.

1. Imagine a city, well known to President Obama, where the rich elite are able to break the law and use 'green areas', such as parkland or farm land, to build their luxury houses, golf courses, shopping malls and office blocks.

Imagine this city's green area being reduced from 35% of the land area to only 9%.

Imagine that this city, as more trees get cut down and more land gets concreted over, develops major problems with flooding.

Imagine 70% of the city flooded and hundreds of thousands fleeing their homes.

Imagine the governor of the city declaring that it would not be realistic to take back and restore the former green areas grabbed by the rich.

Imagine the governor forcing the poorest people off their land, so that new green areas can be created.

Jakarta, once home to Obama.

This city, where the poor get turfed off their land, is the largest city in the southern hemisphere.

3. There is good news from Indonesia, and Americans and Europeans should take note.

The good news is about the power of the internet.

In Indonesia, leaked phone calls suggested that bad guys within the police and attorney-general's office conspired to bring down the anti-corruption commission by framing two of its officials.

Indonesians then started using Facebook, and various blogs, to demand the resignation of the allegedly corrupt national police chief and the allegedly corrupt attorney-general. (Financial Times, 12 January 2010: Indonesians take protests off the streets)

Enda Nasution, the father of Indonesia's blogging community, says: "It is about time people start protesting in (these) much more efficient, modern, intelligent ways."

After the two anti-corruption officials were 'framed' and arrested by police, more than one million people signed up for a page on Facebook supporting the anti-corruption men.

The media has given publicity to the bloggers and Facebook protestors.

President Yudhoyono was forced to appoint a special fact-finding team.

This team concluded that the case against the anti-corruption officials was fabricated.

In 2009, more than 60,000 Indonesian Facebook users joined a support page for a housewife jailed after complaining in an e-mail to friends about the medical treatment she received at a hospital near Jakarta.

The police were persuaded to release the housewife on bail. She was later acquitted by a court, but the attorney-general's office may decide to appeal.

Indonesia is expected soon to have 74 million internet users, and they are not as brainwashed as your average American.